Identidade e Política Externa no Irã

This article analyzes the relationship between identity and foreign policy in Iran. Based on the understanding that ideas, norms and symbols are a constitutive part of international behavior, it seeks to understand how identity transformations affected Iran's international behavior. To this end, three moments of reorientation of Iranian identity were analyzed: (i) the Islamic Revolution (1979), (ii) the Reform Movement (1997) and (iii) the Green Movement (2009). It is argued that transformations in Iranian identity and interests constituted the ideational context in which foreign policy decisions were made. In this way, the social construction of identity and strategic preferences explains a certain continuity in Iranian foreign policy, which continues to reject the international political order and challenge the status quo. However, reflections of identity transformations can also be observed, especially from attempts to mitigate the country's international behavior.